Just one more chapter…

Just One Year – book review

Just One Year is the romantic and emotional companion novel to Just One Day, written by Gayle Forman.

As Willem comes to his senses and realises that he is once again alone, he knows he needs to find a girl named Lulu. The pair shared one magical and unforgettable day in Paris and those 24 hours left Willem wondering if maybe they weren’t meant to be together because of the way things ended. But Willem is determined to find Lulu. He travels all around the world, from Mexico to India, hoping to find her. But as months go by and Lulu remains elusive, Willem starts to question whether they were ever meant to be together. But he doesn’t want to hear the answer if they’re not.

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I really enjoyed reading Just One Year. I went into this book knowing that it wasn’t really a sequel and that it was more of a companion novel of sorts, which I think helped me to enjoy this book as much as I did. On the back of the book, it says that Just One Year is the sequel to Just One Day. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word ‘sequel’, I think; Oh yay! We’re going to see what happens next! But no. Not with this one. If you didn’t already know, Just One Year is pretty much the retelling of Just One Day from Willem’s point of view. This book picks up in Paris just when Willem leaves Allyson with every intention to return as soon as possible. If you’ve read Just One Day, you’ll know that Allyson and Willem’s stories diverged from that point in time and the majority of that book is Allyson trying to find Willem, and managing to find herself at the same time too. I really think it’s important to know that this book doesn’t reveal what happens after the end of Just One Day because I know it would be really frustrating to think that you’d get some answers in this book and be left in the exact same spot as you were in before. If I hadn’t have known this book was not a normal sequel, I would have been racing through it to find out what happened after the end of the first book and therefore not enjoy it as much as I did. That’s definitely what you should know before reading this book.

In Just One Day, I didn’t really know what to think of Willem. My initial impressions of him was that he was sweet, but the more I saw of him, the more I thought that he was not that serious about being in a relationship with just one person and was a bit of a player. This annoyed me because I knew how much he meant to Allyson and seeing him flirt with other people when she was right there made me furious. There were even some points in Just One Day where I didn’t want Willem to be with Allyson just because I thought she was too good for him and he was just wanting a fling and nothing serious. I saw how much the one day Allyson had with Willem meant to her and how it changed her life so much and allowed her to discover who she really was, and I didn’t think it would have the same effect on Willem. He seemed like the type of guy who would do that kind of thing a lot. However in this book, I got to know Willem a lot better and I really loved spending time with him and realising what really happened to him.

I realised when I was reading Just One Year that there’s more to Willem than met the eye. I really got to understand him a lot better and what his backstory was. I found out his family life and why he acted the way he did sometimes. He didn’t want to get to connected to things because then he would love those things and those people too much and he had seen what that could do to a person when his father died. His parents, Yael and Bram were the most in love two people could be – stained was what Allyson and Willem said. After Bram died, the one person who knew Willem the most, Willem decided it was best to just escape and go wherever the wind blew him. Instead of deciding what he wanted to do with his life, he did whatever felt right in the moment, but we found out his mother wanted something more for her son’s life than this wandering. Getting to know Willem like this showed me his raw side and what was beneath the charming and mysterious façade. I think that probably one of the reasons why I didn’t like Willem much in Just One Day was because I only really saw that façade and hardly got glimpses at the real him. I loved getting to know him on this emotional level and it really helped me understand why he acted the way he did and what he wanted in life.

One of the relationships that I really loved seeing was the one between Willem and his mother, Yael. Both of them were left in emotional tatters after Bram, Willem’s father, died three years ago. After that, Willem left and Yael moved to India and they were struggling to move on. They drifted apart from one another but in this book, Willem went to India and their relationship slowly got mended and they learnt how to deal with the grief together and how to move past it. I loved seeing the transformations Willem went through when thinking about and spending time with his mother. When they first met one another for the first time in ages, I really got an insight into Willem’s upbringing and what happened that made them drift apart from one another. I loved how messy and real their relationship was and this was an integral part of the novel because it again helped me to understand Willem. Willem comes to realise that him mother and himself aren’t as different as he thought and I loved seeing their relationship grow into that mother-son bond that was there one before. Perhaps what I loved most about it was that their relationship wasn’t perfectly patched up, but we know it will get there one day and it was inspiring to see how even if you don’t think you can connect with someone close to you like you used to, with patience and perseverance, you can reclaim the relationship you had once lost sight of.

Because I initially thought that the day Allyson and Willem spend together meant a lot more to Allyson than it did to Willem, I really liked seeing how those 24 hours changed Willem as well. I really enjoyed seeing how Willem compared meeting Allyson to the love story of Yael and Bram. It was beautiful to see that no matter what obstacles are in your way, you can always get over them or around them if you try. If you want to be with someone and there are hurdles in your way, this book shows that it can happen if both people are determined. If two people are in love and want to be together, it doesn’t matter what’s in their way because they will find a way to be together no matter what. I thought that this book was really inspiring because not only did it tell the heartwarming story of self-discovery, but it also told a story of hope, perseverance, and of course, love.

Overall, I loved reading Just One Year. The characters were all vibrant and alive and also flawed, which makes them real. This book was beautifully written and I know I’ll definitely be reading the story of Willem and Allyson again soon. You should also know that as soon as I finished reading Just One Year, I read Just One Night, the novella that shows what happens in the end with Allyson and Willem. I also absolutely loved the novella and it was great to see what happened between them and now I feel satisfied because I have an idea of how their future will be together. If you haven’t either Just One Day or Just One Year, I definitely recommend them. And if you’ve read Just One Year and you haven’t read Just One Night, seriously, what are you doing with your life? Don’t you want to know what happened with Willem and Allyson? Read it. Just read these books. If you enjoy romance and contemporaries, these books are definitely for you. I’d give Just One Year by Gayle Forman a score of 9 out of 10. If you’ve read this book, let me know your thoughts! Did you know it was going to be more of a companion novel, or were you expecting answers? Have you read Just One Night and are you satisfied with the way things ended? Which book did you prefer – Just One Day or Just One Year? I’d love to hear what you thought!

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4 thoughts on “Just One Year – book review”

I haven’t read this, and I can’t decide if I want to. I hated If I Stay, so I was avoiding Gayle Forman. But this actually sounds good! Ahh, I am so conflicted 😦 Which I suppose just shows it was a good review to nearly change my mind!
Thanks for visiting Addlepates and Book Nerds! 🙂

For the amount of books we both agree on and love, there’s a lot we disagree on too! I really liked If I Stay and I love Gayle Forman, which is probably why I loved this book as much as I did. I recommend you give it a try though because you might really like it 🙂

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About Me

Hi everyone! My name is Sarah, and I'm a blogger, booktuber, and writer from Melbourne.

I'm the co-creator of The YA Room, a Young Adult book club in Melbourne. I'm currently a student, and I've interned at places like Penguin Books, Hardie Grant Egmont, Melbourne Writers Festival, and Writers Victoria. I also have a booktube channel (The YA Room) and a bookstagram (@writtenwanderings).

When I'm not reading, you can probably find me buying too many books, binging a show on Netflix, or writing and drinking way too much coffee at my second home — Starbucks.